Life as Demigods
by Misha Young
Summary: A collection of One Shots and stories about our favorite demigods. Testing the waters of Riordan Fanfic, so let me know what you think! I'm hoping to write about Percabeth, Jasper, Caleo, Frazel and Solangelo. ***On Hiatus. Sorry guys, I've hit some writers block with this one. Hopefully some time off will help my muse. Be back asap!
1. Intro

_"Hey! Come read these cool stories about Camp Half Blood and New Rome, now that we're A.G.D."_

 _"What does A.G.D. stand for, Percy?"_

 _"Well my dear Annabeth; 'After Gaea's Death' of course!"_

 _*Hits palm to forehead* "You're so weird Seaweed Brain."_

 _"Aww, I love you too Wise Girl."_

* * *

Hey all! So I've had a few ideas floating around my head for some time now and I now feel the need to get them written down. Hope you enjoy.

Let me know if you think I should keep going!


	2. I

**PERCY**

"PERSEUS!"

Oh my Gods; I'm totally dead.

She never uses my full name unless I'm in major trouble. I mean, I really can't blame her. I haven't been the _best_ son in the world recently. And I really should have called. But I mean, I was kind of out of cell service range…

But before I could react or brace myself for more yelling, Mom jumped me and wrapped me in her arms. She hugged me so tight it hurt; but it was the good kind of hurt.

"Hey Mom," it's lame I know, but Annabeth is the smart one not me. And even though I'm seventeen, even though I just helped save the world again, I realize that I had really missed my mom's hugs. She smelled like pancakes and that perfume that Paul bought her last summer that smelled like a clean breeze.

We stood there for a few minutes before Mom realized that Annabeth was next to me in the hallway.

"Oh, Annabeth," Mom kind of shifted me over and pulled my girlfriend in for a group hug. It was kind of awkward, but none of us seemed to care too much.

"Good grief, I step out to the balcony for one phone call and I miss the whole homecoming?" Paul chuckled from inside the apartment. Mom finally releases Annabeth and me, and I walk over to hug my stepdad. I realize that I've missed him a lot too.

Mom waves us into the little kitchen nook where that table is. She brings Annabeth and me a huge plate of pancakes each.

"Sorry they aren't blue; _someone_ forgot to tell me they had finally gotten back into the country."

Annabeth snickers as my face gets a bit warm, "Sorry, Mom… for everything. It was kind of crazy. Wait… how did you know we were out of the country?"

"Oh, Chiron sent a few letters explaining what was going on. Nothing specific, but just informing us that the world was in trouble again, so you and some others from camp had to go save it… _again_." Mom tried to make her voice sound airy and easygoing, but the worry lines between her eyes kind of gave her away.

Paul took mom's hand and gave her an encouraging smile.

Annabeth and I filled my parents in on all the unbelievable events that had happened over the past nine months. I let Annabeth explain most of it since she's able to think and _edit_ a bit faster on the fly then I am. We don't really need to tell my parents how many times we almost died.

I fill them in about Alaska and try to be vague about the monsters and giants. But I really lay it on thick when Annabeth and I start tell them about our new friends; especially Frank and Hazel.

We use our two Roman friends as an introduction to New Rome and all the benefits that the demigods have there… and how Camp Half Blood is now allowed full access to the college and 'demigod retirement' living arrangements.

I try to focus more on the college aspect; I know Mom and Paul will like the idea of me looking forward to more school since I'm not exactly the greatest student right now. And the automatic acceptance doesn't seem to hurt my argument. But Paul makes sure to point out that I need to buckle down for the rest of school still, especially since I missed a whole semester of Junior year.

"Crud, I forgot about that."

"You forgot you were missing for about six months?"

"Yup, forgot about the forgetting again too," I smile brightly at Annabeth before a sharp pain pierces my stomach. _Amnesia about my amnesia…_ Annabeth and I share a look like she knows exactly who I was thinking about.

Paul looks at his watch and jumps from his chair. He excuses himself from the table and kisses my mom on the forehead, "Have to get to the school and get some lesson planning done. Let me know if you want any help with catching up on your classes, Percy." He gives Annabeth and me quick hugs, and insists that we better be here for dinner before he zips out the door.

"So, what was the look for?" My mom looks between the two demigods at the table and sips her lukewarm tea.

"We lost a few friends along the way. It could have been much worse; but that doesn't make watching funeral rites any easier," Annabeth locks our hands together under the table and I try to give her a supportive squeeze.

We tell Mom about Leo Valdez and the other Greek and Roman demigods we know and lost during the battle with Gaea. Annabeth describes the funeral shrouds and the ceremonial burning of the bodies that we had to conduct at camp last week. Mom nods her head and offers words of comfort as much as she can.

Then my _amazing_ mother takes a 180 degree turn and tries to lighten the mood, "So, how is your relationship going?"

Annabeth's ear being to pink and she laughs nervously.

"Mom… seriously?"

"Well, I'm your mother Percy. I have a right to know," My mom can't seem to keep the smirk off her face when she notices how utterly embarrassed Annabeth and I both are. "And I had some things I needed clarification on…"

"What kind of clarifications?" I ask as I bite the inside of my cheek.

"Oh just a few dreams I think your father sent me to let me know you were okay during your quest," She continues to sip her tea in such a casual manner, it's horrifying. _She knows something…_

"Ok… ask away."

"Well, first of all… I think your dad was _really_ angry when you were kidnapped. The dreams I had were all kinds of jumbled and spastic scenes; didn't make a lot of sense as a whole most of the time. But they always showed me you, almost always scrapped up, but still alive," Mom paused to examine my face again; I guess she was trying to make sure that I wasn't mangled anymore or maybe that I was actually even there.

"I'm ok Mom, I promise. All healed up, I swear." I gave her the biggest smile I could through the embarrassing feelings I was still trying to push aside.

Mom stretches her arm across the table and grips my arm; yup, she is _definitely_ making sure I am real. I hate myself for making my mom doubt I was coming back.

More embarrassment.

"I saw some horrible things, Percy. I thought I watched you die a couple times. Paul almost convinced me to admit myself to a sleep study that was researching nightmares… but that's not the point."

She smiles and looks between Annabeth and me again, "You're alive… you're both alive and here. So, onto the fun part of being a parent," My mom looks giddy…

"How easy is it to fall asleep in a horse stable?"

I almost run for it.

Annabeth covers her face in her hands and begins making noises that are a cross between laughing and crying. I think I hear her mumble something about wanting her Yankee hat back. I just sit there stunned and feel my mouth fall open as I stare at my mom.

Yea… this _is way_ worse than Frank catching us in the stables when it actually happened. Or even Coach Hedge yelling at me and 'grounding' Annabeth.

"Um… yea…," I decide to just go with it. "It's actually a pegasi stable, and when you're really tired it's pretty easy to fall asleep no matter where you are."

My mom just sips her tea again and smiles.

She asks us a little about kissing in Tartarus; it is mortifying. Then she asks about the time I saved Annabeth, Piper and Hazel from Octavian when Annabeth signaled me by tossing her dagger into the water; apparently Mom could lip read the end of that one, totally tomato red right now. And the last scene Mom had some questions about our kiss in Athens, which thankfully had more to do with our Godly parents' rivalry than Annabeth and me. I was really going to need to have a talk with Posiden…. I mean it did feel kind of great to know that my Dad was watching over me all this time, even with the split personality issues that the Gods had been having. But seriously… _privacy man_!

Annabeth came out from behind her hands and tells my Mom about how Athens, Greece was named and how a patron was chosen for the city. She explaines how Athena and Poseidon never really saw eye to eye on things and how their rivalry continues even today.

"Well, what do they think of you two dating?"

Annabeth and I glance at each other.

"Well, we're both pretty favored by the Gods… well, most of the gods anyway." I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell my mom that Athena blamed me for most of the _trouble_ that Annabeth got into. But thankfully Poseidon didn't seem to have an issue with Annabeth. I think he just enjoys pushing Athena's buttons sometimes.

We sat there and talked for three solid hours. Annabeth and I told Mom about how we wanted to spend the rest of the summer in California visiting her family and visiting our friends in New Rome. Annabeth also tells my mom about the good news that she will be transferring back to the all-girls school in Manhattan to finish her senior year in New York so we can be together more. Her dad had called in a favor with the school. And apparently while Annabeth was doing mini quests and trying to find out what happened to me when I was kidnapped, she had completed her junior year through an online school.

"Huh, wish I thought of that… guess you are the brains…" I mutter to myself.

Annabeth snickers, "What did you just call me?"

"Nothing." I quickly slap on a wide grin.

I catch my mom watching us and smiling to herself, "Well I need to get some editing done down at the office." Mom just got a job as a copy editor for one of the local papers. She loves it and it gives her time to write her own novel too. "Are you guys going to hang out here until dinner or go out somewhere?"

She shook her head slightly, "Actually, no. I don't like the idea of two teenagers alone in the apartment. Go out somewhere." Mom smirks as she clears the dishes.

I am completely red again; so is Annabeth.

"Um, want to go to the Met?"

Annabeth's eyes light up little a Christmas tree. "Really?"

She sounds so skeptical, I can't help laughing. "Yea, they have a Greek and Roman section. We can go and make fun of how much they got wrong."

Annabeth's glares don't scare me as much as they used to.

"And you can give me an architecture lesson." Annabeth's eyes soften.

My mom gives me two thumbs up as she grabs her coat from the hall closet. Thankfully Annabeth doesn't notice even though I can feel my face get warm again.

* * *

 _Please Follow, Favorite and Review!_

 _I'm going to try to update once a week with a new point of view._

 _Love you all!_

 _-Misha_


	3. II

_Hey there!_

 _Thank you all SO much for the follows, favorites and review! Guest: YOU ROCK! Please bring some friends so we can get this party going. lol._

 _Ps. I will be trying to update ' Life as Demigods' every Wed. Just fyi. =)_

* * *

 **Piper**

I was humming the tune to ' _Blue Skies'_ quietly to myself as I lay on the frayed yellow beach towel. My eyes were closed, but it's so bright I can almost see the circular outline of the sun from behind my eyelids. My little set up is pretty nice; beach towel, huge Igloo cooler full of soda and water and no one around to hear my singing. One of the cool things about Dad being a big, successful movie star is beach front property and privacy to enjoy it.

"Pipes!" Dad calls as he walks toward my little nest in the sand. "Your boyfriend's a natural. Are you sure you've never surfed before, Jason? It's like you were floating over that last wave."

I couldn't help but snort as I glance at Jason through squinting eyes.

He laughs nervously as Dad claps him on the back, "No, sir. Just one with the ocean, I guess." I have to cover my mouth to keep from laughing as Jason glances nervously up at the cloudless sky.

"Well, the three of us will definite need to go out again tomorrow before I leave for my meeting. When are your other friends getting in, Piper?" Dad plops down next to me in the sand and steals my water bottle.

"Tomorrow afternoon; around two I think."

"Perfect. Plenty of time to get food together then." Dad messes with my already tangled hair and keeps my water bottle as he stands up. I look over my shoulder and notice Dad's new assistant, Taylor Fuller, walking toward us; her black stilettos in one hand and the giant tablet that keeps my dad's schedule in the other.

I sigh and look between Dad and Jason. Dad doesn't notice my slightly down-turned mouth, but Jason sees it and gives me a stern look as if to tell me _'Be nice.'_

I really don't need to be reminded to be nice; Taylor is a really good assistant and she's actually nice to me. She's the polar opposite of Dad's last assistant, who liked to blame me for everything and happily shuffled me between every boarding school she could find. Apparently it was Taylor who helped my dad set up my belated birthday surprise when Jason and I came to visit a few days ago.

* * *

Dad had insisted on driving Jason and me around Malibu like he was some kind of tour guide. He and Jason were laughing and getting to know each other, so I didn't complain that he wasn't actually telling us anything about the area. Then suddenly he took a weird turn, drove us all the way to the main highway and parked us in front of a luxury car dealership off of Highway 101. He turned to me and said, "Happy Birthday Pipes!" Dad told me to get out, pick out a car and then immediately apologized for the gift being late.

I remember my jaw falling open and Jason shaking my arm to bring my eyes back into focus.

I jumped out of the car and almost choked my dad from hugging him so hard. The only problem was I knew I didn't really need a car. I don't know any demigods who have cars.

Dad, Jason and I had a blast looking through all the crazy expensive things that BMW has come out with recently. I found it funny that Dad had picked a Beamer dealership since I once 'borrowed' a BMW from a sales guy… wait, wasn't that _here_?

Dad had gotten flagged down by a few of the sales people; apparently his Dodgers baseball cap and Ray-Ban sunglasses didn't provide as much of a disguise as he had hoped for. And I was getting a bit discouraged since none of the cars had really caught my eye. Well, until Jason and I wondered over to the pre-owned section of the dealership.

There it was.

I'm sure it sounds completely cliché but I knew _that_ was going to be my car like I knew Katoptris was supposed to be my weapon. It was a year old trade in, only had about 24,000 miles on it and it had one or two dings in the driver-side door; but it had so much character. Jason thought it looked like a tank, I thought that couldn't really hurt with our luck.

My dad was a little shocked since he had assumed he would be purchasing a BMW sports car, but I'd fallen in love with a bright white Jeep Wrangler.

Taylor had been dropped off by a car service while Dad was doing paperwork so that she could drive Dad's car home. Dad had wanted to be my first shotgun passenger. Taylor really surprised me that day during our brief conversation while we waited for Dad to finish with the sales person.

"So, you didn't go for the most expensive car on the lot?"

I had been kind of offended by the question, "No, of course not!"

Tylor had simply smiled approvingly, "I knew you wouldn't. I may not know you well yet, but from what I've gathered from your dad's stories; you seem to value quality over flash. Very unusual for this area."

When I realized that she wasn't being rude, I was kind of at a loss for words. That doesn't happen often and Jason teased me mercilessly for it later.

"Yea, Pipes isn't much for the Hollywood life," Jason had stated with pride.

* * *

But now that Taylor was taking my dad away for a meeting that would supposedly last the rest of the day, I _was_ kind of upset to see her. Dad jogged over to meet Taylor half way from the house to talk about detailes of the meeting I guess.

Jason takes advantage of my distraction and bends over to shake out his wet hair on me, "Ah! Stop it Sparky!" I raise my arms to shield my face from the saltwater. He crashes into the sand next to my towel and leans in for a kiss.

We have gotten more comfortable with our relationship. With all the crazy events over the last several months, it's been difficult to really set time aside for figuring out where we stand as a couple. But since we 'started over' about a month ago, everything has felt so effortless.

With Jason's new position as Pontifex Maximus, which basically means 'pacifier of the gods'; he's going to be traveling between Camp Half Blood and New Rome a lot. He asked me to come with his this first trip back to New Rome because he knew I was missing my dad. And it made me happy that we had reached the point in our relationship of introducing family members, and godly parents don't count.

Neither Jason or I have much family though. I have Dad and some extended family in Oklahoma. Jason only has Thalia. That's probably why we feel so strongly about our friends from camp. They have basically become our patchwork family.

Dad calls to us and begins to jog back over to my beach nest. Jason scoots a little away from me so that there's no skin contact. I shake my head and laugh, "I really don't think Dad will care if we're _sitting_ next to each other."

Jason flashes a smirk, "Well seeing as he's the only mortal parent in the equation, let's keep him on our side. Never know with our _other_ parents."

Sadly, he's right. The gods can be pretty temperamental at times. I was terrified that Jason's dad was going to smite him the last time they talked.

Dad lets us know that he probably won't be home until 9:00pm tonight and then suggests we get the chef to make us some snacks after dinner and then take advantage of his huge movie collection. But right now, he had to get ready and leave.

I stand up and hug Dad tightly around his waist. I hate that he doesn't know about who I am, but I know it would be selfish of me to try to tell him. His mind can't handle that kind of truth; I know that. But he still loves me and we've both been getting better about really _talking_ to each other.

Jason stands up and offers an awkward wave to my Dad as he makes his way back to the house to clean up and change.

"So do you think I'll ever be able to tell my dad about being a demigod?" I watch my dad disappear into the house. Jason come up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders and tucks my head under his chin. I love it when he does this. I don't need to be protected, but sometimes it's nice to have someone who wants to shield you from the world.

"I think you will be able to eventually. Just give him some time," Jason is always an optimist; me, not so much. I remember how shocked and scared my dad was after we rescued him from the torturing giant.

"Well, what do you want to do now?" I tilt my head up so I'm basically talking to Jason's throat. It annoys him, but I think it's funny.

"I'm not a cook, but I make a mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich." Jason knows they're my favorite. We actually sneaked out of camp one night last week and bought a full loaf of bread, Jiff and grape jelly. Jason took us up to the roof of Cabin One and we feasted on messy sandwiches while playing a game of 'name that constellation'. It was probably my favorite date we've had so far.

"Deal. We can give the chef the night off." I untangle myself from his arms and start collecting my things off the sand before we make our way inside.

After my Dad leaves and dinner is demolished, Jason and I wander the shelves of Dad's Blu-ray collection. I swear he has every movie ever made. We find a silly comedy and retreat back to the living room. Taylor is still around; she's playing chaperon and working on a project for my dad in the office. We ask her if she would like to join us for the movie, but she kind of smirks at us and politely declines.

Jason settles on the couch while I fiddle with the crazy complicated entertainment system that Dad had some professional set up last year. I swear it takes me a whole fifteen minutes to figure out what input the Blue-ray player is on…

I don't even really remember what happens in the movie. I recall sitting down next to Jason, folding my legs up, snuggling up into his side, and having him wrap an arm around me. Then nothing…

I fell asleep.

I know. Real exciting, right? I'm one of the seven demigods who were part of a prophecy to save the world, which we did; but I'm so boring that I can't even stay awake during a movie night with my boyfriend.

The only good thing is; Jason fell asleep too. So at least we can be boring together; until the next end of the world event comes along...

I do remember bits and pieces of the night. Taylor came in to check on us a few times. She called "Hand check," to make sure we weren't too comfortable. Taylor also threw a blanket over us and tucked us in, though she did mumble something about "hands above the blanket" before returning to her work. I also remembered Dad coming home and finding Jason and I passed out on the big sofa. I heard Taylor calm him down from his brief protective anger spike and assure him that we were just sleeping.

Yup, I guess I really do like Taylor.

* * *

 _Let me know what you think!_

 _Follow, Favorite and REVIEW!_

 _Always,_

 _Misha_

 _Pps. if you like my writing please check out my other stories: ' Thrown Back', 'Begin Again' and 'Penelope Jackson: The Lightning Thief'_


	4. III

_Hey All! Thank you guys for the Follows and Favorites. Really appreciate the love. Would appreciate it even **more** if you guys could take a quick second and maybe...  Review?  
_

 _*** Sorry this update is late. The Fanifc site has really been unstable the past two days._

 _Here's a little di Angelo for ya. =)_

* * *

 **Nico**

The last month and a half has been kind of surreal.

I found out that I actually _do_ have some good friends, I came out to said friends and they completely accepted me, and now I'm kind of in dating limbo with a blonde guy who orders me around like I'm _not_ some scary underworld-y thing.

Although… I have thought about setting some annoying ghost to follow him around after a few arguments we've had, I've never gotten up the nerve to do it. Hazel _has_ had to talk me out of it once or twice, but mostly I just get distracted by something else Will says.

Right now, I'm lying on the floor of the Athena cabin with Annabeth and Jason. We're trying to finalize the strategy for capture the flag tonight. These two blondes have actually become my best friends here at Camp Half-Blood. Jason found out about me being gay first, because of that stupid love god, cupid. And Annabeth, without the green monster of jealousy on my shoulder, turned out to be one of the coolest people at camp. She'll never replace Bianca, but she does make a pretty good older sister type. I seem to be collecting those…

This capture the flag game is going to be pretty interesting. Not quite sure how it was pulled off, but all our significant others are on the opposite team. And with all of us being pretty competitive… it's going to be _really_ entertaining.

"What if we set up a few people along the river, we need to make sure Percy can't use the water or he'll wipe us out," Jason points to the wavy blue line on the map of the camp.

"No, that would just be sacrificing people to Percy. We need to steer clear of the river entirely if we want to limit the use of his power," Annabeth frowned as she tried to think of a better solution.

"Actually, Jason would be good to put there because you could actually counter a lot of Percy's power," they both look at me with questioning glances; but they know I'm right. "Or you could place me there and I could shadow-travel him away from the whole game any time he got _close_ to the water."

Annabeth gets this little wicked glint in her eyes, but she shakes her head, "As much fun as it would be to drive Seaweed Brain absolutely bonkers, I think you'd be of better use if you didn't shadow-travel until we get the flag. Your _doctor_ said only two dark and scary underworld events for this game with limited range… because of your health and it wouldn't be sporting, of course." She says this with a teasing smile but doesn't press the subject further.

A shimmer materializes over my head and forms into a little multicolored window. The voices on the other side tune in and out like someone's playing with the dial on an FM radio.

"…Nico… no, I don't… Frank how…"

I sat up and faced the Iris message and was surprised to find myself chuckling as my sister finally flutters into focus, "Hi, Hazel." Annabeth and Jason wave and say a greeting as well.

"Hey, Nico! How are you? How is everyone?"

"We're good here. How's New Rome?" My eyebrows automatically knit together as I take in Hazel's slightly anxious expression, "What's going on?"

Hazel looks to the left of the Iris message; probably sharing a look with Frank before she answers. "Well, Reyna actually wants Frank to come and talk to you all… In person I mean. She says 'hi' by the way… Um, I asked to come too so I could visit you. I was wondering if you could send Mrs. O'Leary. If you send her as soon as the sun starts to dip down, she can take a nice long nap before shadow-traveling us back to you after it gets darker."

I really don't like the worry in Hazel's tone, but I try to keep my voice casual, "Yea, of course. I'll ask Percy if we can borrow Mrs. O'Leary at lunch." I glace over my shoulder at the two tall blondes and realize that they are pretending to be engrossed in the map; but I can tell they're eavesdropping. I actually don't mind. "Are you ok, Hazel?"

She looks at me with her big golden brown eyes and signs, "Yea, I'm ok. Just worried about something. But Frank will explain all of it later And… I miss you." We smile at each other and I take some comfort in the fact that I'll get to see her in person in a few hours.

"See you soon, Sis," I go to wave my hand across the rainbow message, but Annabeth clears her throat behind me.

"Um, I know you guys are coming here for business and all… but would you want to join in on the capture the flag game tonight? Might be a good outlet for some of your anxiety…" Jason nods along with Annabeth's offer.

Frank comes into view of the window, "Sure. That could be fun. We were hoping to hold a meeting with the heads councilors bright and early tomorrow, so can't run too late. What's the plan?" Frank leaned forward and tried to eye the map of Camp Half-blood.

Jason chuckled nervously and stepped in front of the map, "Well, we actually can't tell _you_ , Frank. You're on the other team. It's Ares vs. Athena this game, so you're kind of the enemy."

Hazel's expression broke into a small smile, "Oh, this will be a fun distraction then. We'll see you all at dinner."

* * *

The rest of the planning went relatively well. Annabeth got really excited about using Hazel's mist talent for keeping our flag hidden and Jason went off to train some more since he was taking Percy on head to head. We told Clarisse that she would have a Mars kid joining her side for the game and her poker face almost slipped when we told her it was Frank; everyone knew about his amazing animal shifting powers.

That evening when Hazel and Frank arrived on the back of Mrs. O'Leary; Chiron was there to welcome them to camp. Annabeth and Percy act as our 'Praetors' and try to be formal; but they kind of failed. Let's just say Percy tried to hug the gigantic Roman and tripped over his own hellhound.

Hazel sits with me through dinner and Frank goes off to catch up with Clarisse and the other Ares children. Hazel fidgets a bit, but still won't tell me any details about what's wrong, so I try to focus on the game tonight instead.

"So Annabeth wanted to know how your Mist Powers are holding up. She was hoping you could hide our flag."

"Isn't that kind of cheating?" Hazel smirks.

"Not as long as you don't actually move the flag." I raise an eyebrow and mumble under my breath, "Not everyone will be fooled by the Mist anyway, so they still have a fair chance."

* * *

I left Hazel, hidden in a tree close to our flag. Jason had flown it up to the tallest pine tree he could find that was far away from the river. Hazel was blending into the branches two trees over and maneuvering the Mist to have the flag look like it was jumping from one tree to another. It seems easier for her to use her power in short bursts, simply confusing the other team could buy us enough time to get their banner first.

Jason is by the banks of the river, keeping an eye out for Percy and avoiding the Aphrodite campers. Annabeth and I are scurrying through the darkness, using the shadows to hide us as we advance on the red Ares Banner. Clarisse has placed the banner on the outskirts of the forest, right on the edge of the sand.

"This is not good, Nico…" Annabeth pokes her head out from behind our hiding spot and scans the length of the beach both ways.

I know she's looking for Percy, we were wrong to think he was going to use the river. The ocean is always more powerful for him anyway… some weird thing with saltwater.

The flag is being weighed down by two bricks, and that's it. There doesn't seem to be anyone else around to guard the banner from being taken.

"This is totally a trap," I whisper. I wish Jason was here to act as a buffer for whatever is about to happen. "He might not attack directly if you're the one to grab for the banner first."

Annabeth turns the thought over in her head, "Yea, ok. But we haven't seen a lot of the Ares campers either. What if they're all out here on the edge of the woods?"

"Then I'll bum rush them and use the shadows to get us out." A smile is covering my face, but I don't think Annabeth can see me in the darkness, "Would you prefer zombies or ghosts?"

She chuckles but I can feel her shoulder shiver slightly. Annabeth might be _my_ friend, but that doesn't mean she likes the underworld much… not that I can fault her for that.

Annabeth leaves her heavy helmet by the tree line and quickly readjusts her armor. She hands me her shield, "It will slow me down too much and I can use my sword to block any weapons anyway." I attach the shield to my own arm; it's a bit larger than mine and should cover us both if needed. Annabeth sheaths her drakon bone sword and crouches down into a runner's stance.

Annabeth is one of the fastest runners at camp, but apparently she's not as fast as Percy is with water. As soon as Annabeth stepped out of the edge of the forest, two arms of water come up out of the waves and try to grab her by the leg. She dips, rolls and jumps her way around the flailing arms and ends up standing on the Ares banner.

Just as I'm about to follow her; Annabeth catapults into the air. She's dangling by her left ankle and being lifted over to the cresting waves, upside down. "You are SO going to pay for this later, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth's voice is cool and collected, and she doesn't give away that I'm still in the shadows.

I hear Percy laughing; he sounds a bit further down the beach. I still might be able to sneak over and get the banner…

I drop the shield, draw my Stygian iron sword and sprint toward the red cloth. My hand is curling around the edge of the flag as a golden arrow wizzes by my head and lodges into the sand next to me.

"Sorry, di Angelo. Can't take it that easily."

I roll my eyes; I have no idea how Clarisse knew where we were positioning people tonight, but she placed our counterparts perfectly. I decide to play along, "You could have really hurt me, Solace. What if you'd hit me?"

Will chuckles from one of the trees; maybe six or seven feet off the ground, "I would have just patched you up like I always do."

My eyes roll, as I hold back a laugh.

I take in my surroundings quickly and notice Annabeth glancing at me through her peripheral, but she's still chatting with Percy to keep him distracted. With Will in a tree, he has the upper ground… so this was going to need to be faster than usual.

I kneel down facing the tree line, but keep Annabeth still in my line of sight. I toss my sword in front of me and hold my right hand up. "So where are you, Solace?" I pull my left hand behind me and brush away the arrow that had been shot through the corner of the banner. I wrap the flag three times around my fingers just to make sure that it will move when I move.

Will drops from the tree. His bow is raised, arrow is strung and he's wearing a very cute smirk. I'm kind of sad that I'll be wiping that from his face in a few seconds…

" _Both_ hands up, di Angelo."

As I slowly raise my left hand, several things happen. Annabeth throws her drakon sword at Percy's head, he drops Annabeth into the sand. She barrels into my kneeling form and nearly chokes me as she hugs my neck. And I quickly dive into the shadow that Will had created as he stepped closer to me.

We pop back through a shadow close to the river bank and we tumble into the shallow water. Jason scoops us both up as we hear Percy and Will calling to the rest of their team.

"Jason, you have to hold them off," Annabeth grabs his sword before he can protest. "I kind of threw mine at Kelp Brain."

A smile flashes across Jason's face as he looks up to the sky; dark clouds begin to form over the river, "I got this. You guys go."

Annabeth helps me tuck the flag in between my armor and shirt as we stumble across the stones along the riverbank. She takes the lead, making sure the path is clear as we run back to our base.

"I want you to shadow-travel as soon as you see base or as soon as I get taken down," it's hard not to laugh at Annabeth's seriousness.

"Whatever you say, captain my captain." I get a toothy smile thrown back at me as we run through the trees.

We're moving so fast, I can't even register who we are passing sometimes. A few of Annabeth's godly siblings hold off a group of Ares kids and some of the children of Demeter throw vine nets over the Apollo campers as they try to cut Annabeth and I off.

I can see the edge of the woods now and can just make out the Athena base. I urge my legs to run faster as I pass Annabeth and she turns to make sure no one is following.

There's a strange screeching sound closing in as I run, but I don't bother looking back. I trust Annabeth to handle it.

What I didn't expect was Annabeth pushing me out of the way as Frank the eagle tries to swoop down and fly off with me. Instead he gets the Athenian Head counselor wrapped around his claws, throwing him off balance…

… As I cross into base-camp.

Everyone in blue is cheering and laughing. Two of the other campers hoist me onto their shoulders and parade me around the base; Annabeth soon joins me above the crowd.

She's smiling from ear to ear, but doesn't bother saying anything. She just raises her hand and we share a painfully hard high-five.

Jason, Percy and Will come out from the forest all completely soaked. Jason and Percy start arguing and playfully shoving each other, but Will stands to the side and locks eyes with me. He smirks as he crosses his arms over his chest, taking in the crazy celebration scene in front of him.

* * *

"So I guess you were right all along, Solace," It's quiet now across camp, most of the kids have gone to bed since it's only a few minutes until curfew. Will and I are in the mess hall overlooking the beach.

"What was I right about _this_ time, di Angelo?" Will ruffles his hair and does that stupid side smirk that he knows I think is cute.

I shake my head and lean back against the table, "I do have really good friends here; even with my underworld-y powers." I wiggle my fingers in a mock menacing way.

Will laughs and swats my hands away, "Yea, well you're not as dark and scary as you think you are di Angelo."

"I blame you for ruining my reputation then, Will," I narrow my eyes at him and try to look offended.

Solace just laughs at me, "Whatever you say, Nico."

He laces our fingers together and gives my hand a tight squeeze.

* * *

 _Yay! Hope you all enjoyed a little bit of Will and Nico._

 _Please Follow, Favorite and REVIEW!_

 _Reviews help fuel the writing machine!_

 _Always,_

 _Misha_

 _Ps. please check out my other stories; ' Begin Again,' 'Thrown Back' and 'Penelope Jackson: The Lightning Thief.'_


	5. IV

_Hello all! So sorry this update is a day late. I was horribly sick yesterday and was unable to post. Thanks to all those who favorited and followed. And special thank you to riptidedauntlessgryffindor for reviewing. You're so sweet!  
_

 _Please enjoy yourself some Leo!_

* * *

 **4. Leo**

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow…"

"Well you shouldn't have sneaked out so _loudly_ , Fire Boy. You know how she gets," Calypso gives me a sideways smirk and applies more of her flowery scented healing stuff on my ribs.

"Yea, I know. But you know I'm not that graceful, and I needed to find some more bronze to fix Festus again. I'm SO close to having him up and running," I still am having trouble believing how many times I've had to fix my pet mechanical dragon. I'm probably cursed, but I refuse to give up on him or Calypso anytime soon.

I have to get us off this island first, at the very least.

Oh yea, forgot to mention that I got us stuck on some other magical island. It's just my luck of course that I get Calypso off of her own cursed island and then we crash-land on another one. We've been stuck here for over a month now I think, but I've kind of lost track of the exact days.

Festus hit some magical barrier as we were flying over this deserted looking island on our way up the Florida Keys. My poor dragon malfunctioned and started short circuiting before he went completely offline and crashed us into the shallow water off the beach here.

The worst part of this island was _Her_ though.

"Mother Lamia calls for you, Lady Calypso," The old woman's voice shakes with fear as she announces her presence in my small room.

Calypso shuts her eyes and takes a few breathes before she forces a smile on her face and answers, "Of course, I will be there in just a moment."

She locks eyes with me briefly before leaning forward and kissing my temple.

"Be careful," I don't need to say this, but I always do. It scares the crud out of me when Calypso has to go entertain our crazy hostess.

"I'll be fine, Leo. She actually likes me remember?" She tries to laugh at me as she stands up to leave the room.

* * *

Being left alone with my thoughts is horrible. I begin to think about all the different attempts I've made so far to get us off this island or to get a message out to my friends. I build a crummy raft; it sank as soon as I put it into the waves. I try building several different kinds of air animals to send a message to Camp Half-Blood; they fall from the sky after hitting an invisible barrier just off the edge of the beach. I try building a few sea animals; they turn belly up after getting ten feet from the shore. I even rebuild Festus two different times and both times he falls from the sky like a sack of potatoes as soon as he gets over the water.

'Mother Lamia' doesn't want us leaving. She's apparently some psycho ex queen from ancient Greece. She was one of Zeus' mistresses until Hera found out and got all pissy, (like I haven't heard that before…) Well the queen of the Gods decided to curse the former Queen of Libya into a kid-devouring daemon.

…Yup, that's right… she eats kids; just my luck, right?

The reason she hasn't eaten me yet is because she likes Calypso. 'Mother Lamia' says that my girlfriend reminds her of one of her own children, and she's holding us hostage because she needs to live out some weird fantasy where she didn't have all her children taken away and killed by Hera.

I really don't like my Tia Hera… have I mentioned that today?

Blah, I need to focus on fixing Festus and building that dream amplifier. Fixing my dragon has _really_ taken a back seat in the last week, but Calypso and I try not to talk about our other plan just in case someone or something overhears us. My hope is that they think I'm still focusing on flying out of here, which we know always fails, so they'll leave me alone while I tinker on our other project.

The dream amplifier was Calypso's idea. Since we can't get a physical message out to the real world, why not try a non-physical one instead?

The only slight hiccup that we've come across is that I can't seem to connect with anyone in the real world except Hazel. That didn't sit too well with Calypso the first time I explained it to her. Having so many past heroes' leave her for their _lady loves_ is bound to make anyone jealous. But after I explained Hazel's past with my Great-grandfather Sammy and how I feel responsible to her like a sibling would, Calypso stopped glaring a hole through the wall.

I smirk a little as I think about the flash across Calypso's dark eyes when I said Hazel's name that first time. I know I shouldn't be happy about making her jealous, but she is kind of hot when she gets all protective.

I can't work on the dream amplifier until it's dark and 'Mother Lamia' has gone to sleep, so I start drawing the schematics in my head and going over the material that I've already gathered.

By dusk, my ribs aren't really achy anymore and Calypso has snuck back into my room with some food. I stand up and hold my arms out waiting for her to run at me.

She snorts at my antics and places the food on the ground, "You're sure you're healed up enough? The guard threw you pretty hard this time."

I shrug my shoulders as she begins to run the short length of my room and jumps into my arms. It's this silly thing we do after she gets back from entertaining our captor; sort of to distract ourselves from the harsh reality of it all. Calypso is tiny, so I can hold her up pretty easily even with my injuries. She puts our foreheads together as I gently place her feet back on the floor.

We stay there for a few seconds until I'm betrayed by my stomach and it grumbles so loud I'm pretty sure the whole island can hear it.

Calypso's lyrical laughter fills the room, "Sorry I'm later than usual today. I went a little overboard with my story tonight."

"Well, I'm assuming it went well since you got to bring me food and no guards showed up," I sit on the floor with my back against my cot and dig into the beef stew that my gorgeous girlfriend brought me.

Calypso sits down next to me and lays her head on my shoulder, "Yup, you're safe again until tomorrow night. I think I've run out of stories about Odysseus though. I might need to move onto the heroic tales of Sir Francis Drake."

I finish the food and readjust us so that my arm is draped around Calypso's shoulders as her head slides down to my chest and her arm hugs my stomach. I hate that I can't protect her from all of this. I hate that she's the one who has to put herself at risk trading stories for my life each night.

When it's finally dark outside, Calypso puts up her protective bubble shield (my name for it, not hers… hehe). I pull out all of my material from the different hiding spots around my room and throw everything into a pile in the middle of the floor. Before I can even think about what I'm really doing, I put my belt on and begin pulling odd tools out and fastening together the scraps of bronze I've found around the island.

In about an hour I have a pretty ridiculous looking headband. It fits perfectly over my head, but honestly makes me look like there's a weird quid thing trying to eat my brain. The wires poking out in every direction are supposed to boost my brain signal and broadcast in every direction with hopes of making a stronger connection to Hazel. We have no idea where this island is in comparison to her so we have to cast a wide net, so to speak. And the signal needs to be strong enough that I can hold a decent conversation with her.

Calypso smirks at the crazy fish looking thing coming off my head and starts to get her magic ready to help boost it. She kisses me on the cheek before I lie down and close my eyes.

Calypso begins to sing.

It's a sad song in Ancient Greek, I think it's about a young woman who lost her way deep in the forest and can't find her way back to her love. But before I can ask Calypso about the song, sleep overtakes me.

* * *

I feel like I'm falling; really fast, but not in a terrifying kind of way. I look down, but can't see the ground from where I am. I guess I'm too high up. There are clouds and bright golden birds swishing by as I fall.

I look around trying to find something to hold onto, maybe to stop or at least slow down my fall; but instead of finding an item to help me, I find a person.

"Hazel?"

Her eyes get big as she focuses on me, "Leo?!"

I grab for her hand, she looks terrified and I feel so bad for throwing her into this craziness. As soon as our hands touch, our bodies lurch and our legs give out from under us as we finally connect with the ground.

I stand quickly and help Hazel get to her feet, "I'm so sorry to drag you into this mess, but I need your help Hazel."

She stares at me, her eyes getting wider, "But… but you died Leo. I can't help you." Her eyes get watery and tears threaten to fall down her face.

I sigh, "No… well kind of… I did die, but I had the Physician's Cure, remember?"

"Then why didn't you come back yet?"

I twitch uncomfortably. I knew this question would come up and I already felt stupid for not flying straight back to Half-Blood Hill after I found Calypso, "I went back to find Ogygia and get Calypso… and we got kind of lost."

A wide smile spreads across Hazel's face, "You're alive… you're _really_ alive?"

"Yea, sorry I didn't get back to you guys sooner… we got into some trouble…."

Apparently even in dreams you can feel, Hazel slammed into me and squeezed me so tight that my bruised ribs began to hurt. "I was so worried that something had gone wrong in the underworld. All your other messages were so garbled and I couldn't understand anything that you were trying to say to me. I'm actually at Camp Half-Blood right now so I can talk to Nico about it."

I hold up my hands to try to slow down her quick jabbering, "No, no. I'm alive. Calypso is alive. We made it off her island, but then we got trapped on another one. That's why we're not back yet."

Hazel's happy expression turned worried, "So where are you guys?"

"I don't know exactly. We were around the Florida Keys right before we crashed, but I don't know if this island moves around like Calypso's did." I take a deep breath as I tell her the worst of the news, "We're being held here by Lamia…"

I can tell Hazel has been studying her Greek myths, because her worried expression grows terrified, "You mean… that queen who… _eats kids_?" She speaks so softly, I can barely hear her.

I nod my head sadly and add, "Yea, I've also learned that she's the reason that monsters hunt us demigods. She gave us our smell or something. She's put up some magical barrier around the island that won't allow anything physical to pass through it, so… I have no idea how, but we need you and the others to… come save us… _somehow_."

"Leo, someone's coming… you have to wake up now." Calypso's hurried whisper projects over us like she's the voice of a God or something. Oh wait, she is a god… or was… whatever.

I look at Hazel and she doesn't look scared anymore, she looks determined, "We'll find you. And we'll get you both back safely."

"I'll try to contact you again in a day or two. Thank you, Hazel." And her form begins to unfocus and fade as Calypso draws me back to the waking world.

* * *

 _So yea... this might be a two or three part-er within the one-shots... hope that's ok with you guys._

 _Anyway, PLEASE Follow, Favorite and REVIEW!_

 _LOVE Reviews; can't live without them!_

 _Always,_

 _Misha_

 _Ps. Check out my other stories too: ' Penelope Jackson: The Lightning Thief,' 'Thrown Back' and 'Begin Again.'_


	6. V

_Hey there! Hope everyone is having a lovely day.  
_

 _Thank you bunches to everyone who Followed and Favorited this past week; you guys are WONDERFUL! And of course thank yous to Fangirlfromhogwarts, morbid bookworm, Jaz L and 501312; you all are AMAZING! Thanks a ton for taking a minute to review my little collection of stories._

 _Please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear reviews, ideas and anything constructive._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

 **Hazel**

"LEO!"

I watch helplessly as my friend fades into nothingness. It jars me so badly that my brain rips me from sleep and I find myself bolting upright in my bunk in the Hades cabin.

"…wha… Hazel stop… can't scream… 4 IN THE MORNING…"

I place a hand over my heart and can feel it stampeding almost as fast as Arion; it's so rapid I can't even feel the rhythm of my heart beat right now. It hurts so badly that my chest starts to contract and it quickly becomes difficult to breath.

"Nico… I can't…breathe…" I manage to choke out as my mind gets a little cloudy. I guess lack of air isn't good for your body…

"Wait, WHAT?" Nico rolls over and tumbles out of his own bunk as I hunch over in pain, "What… what's going on, Hazel?"

"…It hurts… get Frank…" my eyes close against my wishes and I begin to feel myself slide back into unconsciousness.

"No, you need Will… hold on Hazel, I'll be right back." Nico leaves our cabin at a sprint and begins calling out for Frank and Will. I can't quite make out what he's screaming into the very early morning, but I can't imagine that he's making a lot of friends with how many people he's probably waking at this hour.

I can't tell how long it takes for the boys to get to the cabin; my brain has been falling in and out of focus too much. It feels like a few seconds, but even with all of these guys being pretty quick I don't think they can really be that fast on their feet.

The first face that comes into focus in front of my eyes is Will Solace, my brother's almost boyfriend. He asks me to lie back and try to lie perfectly still. He begins to mutter in ancient Greek and I can feel a calm warmth seep through my body starting from my forehead and stomach where Will has placed his hands. I can feel my heart begin to slow down and return to normal beats as the warmth spreads over my chest.

Apollo healing; it's pretty good stuff if you ask me.

My mind is less fuzzy now and I can focus more easily on the people in the cabin. Frank is on the other side of my bunk sitting on the edge of the mattress. He's holding my fingers in his big gentle hand and tracing small circles over my palm. I squeeze his thumb a bit to let him know I'm ok.

"Was it the dreams again?" I've told Frank about the dreams. He's been supportive and looked after me when the dreams have gotten a bit intense, but this dream was leaps and bounds more exhausting the all of the other ones put together.

I nod my head, "Leo found some way to strengthen his dream waves I think. He came in loud and clear this time." I watch as Franks eyes widen with surprise. But the real interesting reaction is the collective gasp that echoes through the cabin.

I turn my head back to Will and look over his shoulder to see who else had come to investigate Nico's wake up call.

My godly brother stands frozen in mid-pace in front of Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, and at least seven other demigods who are the head councilors of some of the other cabins here.

I offer a small wave as I feel a nervous grin cross my face, "Hey… hey guys. Um, sorry about… yea, sorry about this. We were going to tell you all about this tomorrow morning at the council meeting. It's kind of why we're here…"

Nico glares at me, "Leo's been trying to contact you through your dreams?"

"Yes," I guess I might as well own up to it since almost everyone's here already. I'm kind of curious how so many people can fit into the small Hades cabin, but that's really not a top priority issue right now.

"How long has this been going on?" Nico still hasn't moved from his frozen spot. To everyone else, he probably appears angry at me; but he's really just worried and annoyed I didn't tell him sooner.

"About two and a half weeks."

Ok, now _that's_ real anger on his face…

"What?! You've been suffering through dreams from the dead and you didn't bother to tell me for over two weeks?" Nico isn't frozen anymore. He steps right in front of my bed and starts flailing his arms around as he yells at me.

I pull a bit on Franks arm to silently ask if he'll help me sit up. He places a hand over my elbow and pulls me into a sitting position so I can confront my brother, "It wasn't really anything interesting until a few days ago. All the other dreams were really just white noise with a quick glance of Leo or a snippet of a word in his voice. But three days ago I got a full sentence and it scared me."

I glance back at Frank; he knows how scared I was after that dream. I screamed and sobbed until my eyelids puffed and stung. Frank places a hand on my hip and I lean back into his embrace, using him as support to remain seated upright. He tucks his chin over my head and I lean my head against his shoulder.

I focus my eyes back at Nico and see that his face is all twisted in an expression of rage and concern, "Leo said 'Help us, Hazel' before the white noise drowned out the dream again."

The cabin is so eerily quiet now it's unsettling and I fidget against Frank.

"And what did he say this time?" Frank asks since everyone else seems to have been shocked into silence.

I take a deep breathe, "He says he's not dead and that he and Calypso need our help."

Piper gasps and throws a hand over her mouth and Jason draws his arm around her shoulders for a tight hug. Percy and Annabeth exchange a strange look and he quickly entwines their fingers. Everyone expression seems to be a combination of a bit of stunned sadness and relief.

Except Nico.

Nico looks… excited.

"He… he _really_ did it then." My brother returns to the pacing he had been doing previously and starts muttering to himself. He looks a bit crazy and Will stands up and tries to bring him back into focus.

"Are you sure it's real? You're sure it was actually Leo that was talking to you? How do you know it wasn't just a dream you had because you missed him?" Piper whispers as she holds back tears, "I had a few dreams about Leo right after he died. I miss him so much, but that doesn't mean that he's really alive somewhere."

I nod my head, "I know. That's what I thought at first too. I actually thought that something had gone wrong in the underworld and Leo's _spirit_ was the one in trouble and trying to contact me. But I prayed to Pluto and Hades and haven't heard anything back. That's why Frank and Reyna wanted me to come here and talk to Nico. They thought we were going to have to go on a quest into the underworld until Leo sent me the full message tonight…"

"Well, why didn't you ask Nico to come to you guys then? The main entrance to the Underworld is in California," Percy looked between Frank, Nico and I not sure which of us was going to have the answer.

Annabeth beat me to the explanation though, "You were hoping to use the back door we found in New York during the battle with the Titans."

"Yea, if something was going wrong in the underworld, we weren't really sure if busting through the front door would be the best idea," Frank wore a smirk as he cast his eyes down.

Nico was still mumbling and Will apparently had had enough, "NICO!"

My brother jumped, his eyes almost saucers and turned to the blonde in surprise, "What? What happened?"

Will looked like he was trying not to laugh, "Anything you'd like to share with the rest of the class, di Angelo?"

"Oh, OH. Sorry…" Nico sat on the floor in front of me, "Tell me everything Leo said."

The smile on Nico's face looked a little out of place. He seemed overly excited to hear that Leo was alive and needed saving.

"Wait… did you know that he was still alive?" I stared directly into my brother's eyes and saw the guilt flash over his face.

"I… I wasn't sure. I didn't want to give anyone false hope that Leo was alive. But when he died… it felt _different_. I felt him die, but I wasn't sure if I felt him cross over to the underworld. It was strange, but… I'm sorry." Nico picks at a stray thread peeking out from the edge of the floor mat beside my cot.

Will scoots up next to my brother and takes his hand, "Chill out, di Angelo. No one's blaming you for this." He then looks around the room as if to stare down anyone who would challenge him.

I smile; I like that Nico has someone so protective and determined by his side.

I settle in and try to recall every detail about my 'dream call' with Leo. Everyone listens attentively and seems to be committing the story to memory as best they can; even with it being so early in the morning.

"So… what do we do now? How do we help Leo and Calypso?" I might as well admit that I have no plan what so ever. An island cloaked in magic that won't let anything physical leave through its barriers? I feel a little without hope at the moment.

More silence spreads through the cabin as all the demigods think about what could possibly be done to rescue our friend and his girlfriend off of a crazy magic zapping island that belongs to the child eating demon woman who hates demigods.

I rub the side of my temple; all the obstacles of this rescue mission are beginning to give me a headache.

Thankfully our resident 'Wise Girl,' as Percy so efficiently calls her, finally speaks up, "I think I might have something." She smiles a bit embarrassed as she continues, "But I don't know if Will is going to like the idea."

* * *

 _So yea... at least a three part-er... if not four now. Not sure how to break it up at the moment. Guess we'll have to wait and see!_

 _Anyway, PLEASE Follow, Favorite and Review!_

 _Pleas, please, PLEASE REVIEW!  
_

 _Always,_

 _Misha_

 _Ps. Check out my other stories too: ' Penelope Jackson: The Lightning Thief,' 'Thrown Back' and 'Begin Again.'_


	7. VI

_Hey all! Sorry for the slightly late update. Adulting gets in the way sometimes..._

 _Anyway, thank you to the Follower and Favorite-ers this past week; You all are simply AMAZING! And to my two reviews for last chapter: Guest and misty 209, you two rock, i LOVE YOU!_

 _Shameless begging ahead: It was my birthday on Monday, and I would love it if more people took a second to review this little collection of stories. Just as a birthday gift... if you feel so inclined... I might possibly love you forever and ever..._

 _And... On we go!_

* * *

 **6. Will**

Of course I hate the idea. But I wasn't going to voice that fact in front of all the other head councilors. I tighten my hold on Nico's hand and he offers me a small smile. I'm sure he knew this suggestion was coming too. They all rely on his shadow traveling way too much in my opinion.

Annabeth suggests that we all return to our own cabins and try to get some rest before breakfast; there's no way I'll be able to sleep though so I walk out of the Hades cabin and then promptly sit down on the stairs, waiting for the crowd of people to go away.

After most of the others have gone back to their respective bunks, I hear Nico speaking right behind me in hushed tones to his sister's boyfriend, "You know you can stay here in our cabin if you'd be more comfortable. I know you're worried about her as much as I am."

I crane my head around just in time to see some red splotches rise in Frank's cheeks, "I don't think… I should probably… Hazel and I aren't really at that place…"

I couldn't help but chuckle at the poor guy's stammering. Frank is pretty intimidating; big brawny, fighter who can shoot an arrow as well as any of the archers in the Apollo cabin, and he has _two_ Godly genetic lines running through his veins. But when it comes to Hazel, he's pretty much a big teddy bear.

Nico shakes his head, "Good Gods, Frank… you're worse than Hazel sometimes. We have two spare bunks you know. Take the one over mine; that way you can keep an eye on her, but no one will get the wrong idea."

I can I hear Hazel's muffled laughter coming from the cabin.

Frank awkwardly scratches the back of his neck and nods his head, "Thanks Nico." The son of Mars ducts his head down and wanders back into the cabin without another word.

"I think you broke him, di Angelo," I joke as I pat the space next to me on the stairs.

Nico sits down without any objection but puts some space between us, "Yea well, Hazel and I are both from… more conservative times. I think that's rubbed off on Frank a bit." He glances sideways; I guess he's trying to gauge my reaction.

I smile at him, "I already told you that doesn't bother me. You're not going to scare me off that easily."

He grins back at me and I can feel my stomach kind of warm up.

Yea, yea… joke all you want… I've already heard all the cracks about 'warm fuzzy feelings.'

The smile on Nico's face drops a few seconds later though; as does the happy feeling in my stomach.

"So how mad are you going to be if I decided to do this?" Nico looks out over the dark edges of the forest.

I smirk a little before I answer, "Well, I can't get too pissed. You'll be off doing hero stuff and rescuing one of your friends." I pick at a scab that I had on my left hand from stringing a bow earlier this week, "But that doesn't mean I'm going to like that idea of you risking your neck on top of using your life force for underworld-ly travel."

"Fair enough," Nico nods his head and his eyes fall to the grass in front of the cabin.

We let the silence built up around us.

"Can I ask my stupid questions now so that I don't have to ask them in front of Annabeth?" The daughter of Athena is always really nice to me, but that doesn't mean she's not intimidating at times and kind of short with her temper too.

Nico snorts, "Yea, sure." He holds up his hand as if taking an oath, "I won't tell a soul."

I glare a bit at his word choice but smirk anyway, "Why can't someone just take Mrs. O'Leary?"

"A hellhound will probably be too big to hide; but I guess it could be an option if Leo and Calypso have a place to safely keep her hidden as she recovers from the shadow traveling," He answers the question formally with no hint of joking; he knows that I wouldn't appreciate that.

"So what do you think the general plan will end up being?" Honestly, I can kind of imagine it already, but I ask to just have something to keep talking about. I really don't want to go back to the Apollo cabin.

"Well, someone will probably have to come along so I can be guarded while I recuperate from the shadow travel. And then when a safe opportunity presents itself, I'll use the shadows to get everyone back here," Nico glanced over at me as he spoke. He looked calm and collected; ready to accept the quest right this second even if he didn't have the whole picture yet. I hate that he jumps into things before looking at all the options and details first; he's actually a lot like Percy that way. I would blame the 'Big Three' thing, but Jason isn't usually as impulsive.

"You'll need someone powerful with you; who will you end up taking with you? Jason or Percy would be good. They've had plenty of experience with crazy dangerous quests," I try to joke, but the chuckle gets kind of caught in my throat.

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea. I'm going to attract enough attention; Lamia is the one who hates demigods, remember? She's the one who gave us our scents and sic'ed monsters on us. I'm guessing she probably keeps some monsters around to ward off demigods from coming to her little island, so bringing another 'Big Three' demigod with me would be suis… it wouldn't be the _best_ idea," Nico fidgets nervously. At least he's thinking this quest out more.

I smile a bit, "Can I come with you then? I'm just a son of Apollo; no 'Big Three' blood to tempt the monsters with."

It's so easy for me to fall into the teasing banter. I like to think that I'm the reason Nico's lightened up a bit since he came back from the big quest in Greece.

"No way, dude. I am not going to be responsible for risking _your_ life too," Nico leans back on his hands and smirks at me.

"I can risk my own life, thank you very much," I cross my arms and glare at him a playfully, but it doesn't faze him in the slightest. I guess my curly blonde hair sticking out all over the place doesn't help me look intimidating… I need to ask Annabeth how she does it…

"Yea, I know. But you're the best healer at camp. We'll need you safe and prepared for us when we get back; you know, in case one of us doesn't make it back in one piece…" Nico's voice drops off as he admits the dangerous possibility.

I hate this.

He's right, but I still hate it. As much as I would like to go with him and watch his back; I would be better use here, ready to heal them up when they jump back through the shadows.

I try to lighten up the conversation, but I still want to help brainstorm on who should go with di Angelo, "What about Frank? He's powerful, but probably not as smelly as Percy or Jason?"

We share a comfortable laugh and Nico sits up again and scoots a little closer to me. I take his hand and thread our fingers together. He knows I've accepted that he's going and I'm not going with him, so I guess it's safe to show affection again. He knows there's no chance of me going off at him about risking his life unnecessarily if we've already talked it through.

"That might be a good idea. Frank might be able to hide in plain sight if there are enough animals around. But we don't know what kind of creatures are there, if there are any there at all," Nico leans his head into his other hand. His eyes fall shut and I don't know if it's from exhaustion or thinking. Nico's eye's open slightly as he suggests, "What about Annabeth?"

"Annabeth would be good. She'd be able to protect you and form a plan to get you all out while you rest up to shadow travel again. But as good as Annabeth is at fighting and planning, she still won't offer you guys any kind of protection from that queen or the monsters," I admit as I pull on Nico's hand a bit until he sits up and leans over onto my shoulder.

"Annabeth isn't going to like that answer," Nico says as he adjusts his head until he's comfortable on my bony arm. I hesitate slightly before I lean my check on the top of his head, but he doesn't pull back. "Um, what about Piper?"

"Piper might be the best choice. Annabeth and I have been training her up and she's one of the best fighters now. Since she's a daughter of Aphrodite, she hopefully won't be as noticeable to the monsters. And her charmspeak could come in quite handy with Lamia," I do like the idea of Piper doing. She and Nico could make a great team; and her powers could protect everyone against the queen. Piper might even be able to charm their way off the island without a single blow even being thrown. "But what if the monsters that Lamia has are too powerful? What if she doesn't want Leo and Calypso to leave?"

Nico sighs heavily, "Yea, that's the problem. Charmpeak is good, but there's too many ways for people to work around it. Piper is pretty powerful, but that doesn't mean that Lamia will be swayed easily."

"You're going to have to take me."

Nico and I spin around so quickly I think both of our necks crack. Hazel stands in the frame of the door and looks out at us with a determined expression.

"No way, Hazel. You can't come with me. It's too… You're the only way Leo can contact us if something goes wrong…" Nico quickly covered his real reason with some logic; quick thinking on his part.

I know Nico has had a hard time letting go of the death of his sister Bianca. Unfortunately it's transformed itself into being overprotective of Hazel at times.

Hazel crosses her arms and huffs at her godly brother, "You already went through a lot of the options Nico. I'm the only logical choice even though I'm also the telephone."

Nico cringed a little from her raised voice. Hazel is usually very sweet, so when she raises her voice at all you know you need to pay attention and take her seriously.

"I never called you a telephone," Nico tries lamely to defend himself.

Hazel ignores her brother's comment and makes her case, "I am one of the 'Big Three' as you all call it, but I can control the Mist. I can cloak us and keep our scent to a minimum. I'm the only one who can protect us while you recover."

Frank steps into view behind the small girl and she reaches for his hand automatically, "I don't like it any more than you do Nico, but she's right."

I squeeze a little on Nico's hand, "Three against one, di Angelo… Sorry."

He looks at me and sighs looking defeated.

"Alright Hazel; you and me."

* * *

 _Anyway, PLEASE Follow, Favorite and Review!_

 _Pleas, please, PLEASE REVIEW!  
_

 _Always,_

 _Misha_

 _Ps. Check out my other stories too: ' Penelope Jackson: The Lightning Thief,' 'Thrown Back' and 'Begin Again.'_


	8. VII

_Hey all! Sorry I'm a few days late to post. I've been really sick this week and it was NOT fun. But I'm better now and trying hard to catch up with my writing, editing and posting.  
_

 _Thank yous all around to my follower and favorite-ers of this little collection of stories over the last week or so. And my reviewers: MoonLightShadowNight123, Guest, TheSatyrKing, Black Eclipsed Soul and Luna; thank you so much for the kind words. You have no idea how much I appreciate the time and kindness._

 _So here we are!_

* * *

 **7. Calypso**

I really don't know what to make of this idea…

Leo and I have been stuck on this island for over a month and I know we need to get far away from here as soon as we can… but is this _really_ going to work?

I'm running out of stories and the stress of having to 'save' Leo's life every night is weighing on me more then I let him know.

'Mother' Lamia has been satisfied with my stories thus far, but who's to say that she won't change her mind; what if tomorrow she despises my story and decides to feed my Leo to one of her Orthrus?

Tonight was not too terrible, I guess. I embellished a tale that Francis Drake once told me about his capturing of a Spanish treasure ship. He was a drift in the Pacific Ocean, near Lima, Peru, when he seized a ship flying the Spanish colors. And he found that the ship was carrying over 25,000 pesos in Peruvian gold. I believe I wove in elements of some other tale about the gold being cursed and some wayward pirates stealing the pesos from Drake, effectively and ironically saving him from the horrible fate of an eternally dammed life.

But I cannot even be sure of what I said anymore. My mind is racing and thoughts are whirling through my head at top speeds as I quietly sneak back to Leo's room.

I have a few stolen sandwiches hidden in a soft silken handkerchief to share, but even the thought of his happy face and cheeky sideways smile cannot pull me from the dark thoughts that invade my mind.

'This plan is _not_ going to work.'

That's the only clear thought I can see through the chaos. This covert yet daredevil idea that Leo's friends have concocted is going to fail and get everyone involved killed.

They are going to get _Leo_ killed.

I'm standing in front of the elaborately carved door that opens into Leo's room. My hand is on the scrolled golden handle, but I cannot seem to instruct my wrist to turn itself.

I clutch the nob tighter and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to push all the horrible images of out of my head.

Before I can turn the nob myself, the door swings open and almost flings me forward onto the floor. Leo stands there in front of me smiling with relief, "Hey, I was getting worried. You're later than usual; I thought you said no long stories tonight?"

Without another thought, I throw my arms around his torso and bury my face into his chest. Leo wraps his arms around me protectively, kisses the side of my head and I feel him playing with the ends of my long hair. I take a few seconds to enjoy the comforting embrace and collect myself before plunging into the scene that I know awaits me in Leo's room.

I pull back from his arms and sigh deeply, "Did they make it here without anyone seeing them? Are they alright? Is my protection spell holding?"

Leo flashes me that familiar side smirk and gently pulls me into the room.

It looks empty to me.

The small room looks the same as always; fancy rod iron bed with expensive sheets and a small empty dresser line the opposite wall from the door. A wide window overlooking the narrow beach shows off the low setting sun. No one but Leo and I are present in the room.

But then I see the edge of a shimmer on the floor, right next to one of the elaborate iron feet holding up the full-size mattress.

The shimmer slowly starts to spread across the entire room and two other bodies fade into view.

"This is Nico and Hazel; Guys, this is Calypso," Leo whispers introductions even though my extra protection wards should not allow anyone to eavesdrop on the room.

I look over the small girl first and I offer a hesitant smile and small wave. I remember a time when I was jealous of this girl; Leo had admitted that he and Hazel had a connection and that he had originally felt something for her. But after Leo had learned what their connection was, those feelings had altered into sibling affection. And with the month that we have survived together thus far, I've grown to trust Leo completely.

The boy lying face first at the foot of the bed, I had only heard of recently from Leo; but I have heard rumors of him and his powers, even while on my island of Ogygia. Nico di Angelo is very powerful and he is not someone you want to cross.

"Did you really shadow travel the Athena Parthenos from Greece to New York?" My voice sounds a little in awe as I ask the question and I feel my cheeks warm in response.

The dark haired boy offers an uncomfortable smile and weakly states, "Yes. Probably the _worst_ trip I've taken in a while… this one was a little trickier though.

Hazel laughs and sits down next to her brother, "The trip here was a lot easier on his underworld-ly powers though."

"How did you finally discover it's location?" I ask as I hand out the sandwiches.

"We contacted some friends of ours who work with prophesies, Rachel and Ella, and they found a few clues to the location of this island in a very old prophecy about Hera and Lamia. We're actually pretty close to the Sea of Monsters according to Annabeth," I'm happily surprised that _her_ name doesn't rile me either. I look up at Leo from my seat on the floor and smile brightly at him.

Nico continues the story so that Hazel can eat, "The prophecy only gave us a general location though. Percy and Frank came with us as far as the Bahamas. We took some hippocampi down from Long Island, so that I could save all my power to focus on finding _you_ specifically, Valdez."

"Oh," Leo nods his head as he comes to a realization, "That's why I had to stay in the room all day."

"Yea, with all the protections that you said Calypso was placing on this room, it only made sense to use it as the landing strip," Nico looks exhausted, he can barely keep his eyes open and his speech is getting somewhat murmured.

Leo chuckles, "It was kind of weird having to sit around a dark room all day… but you guys have no idea how happy we are to see you and get off this coo-coo island. How long do you need to recoup, Nico?"

"Well, at least a few hours just to make sure I can have enough energy to control where we end up," Nico's voice is growing wispy and I can tell he isn't going to be conscious for very much longer. He's also going to need more rest then he thinks is necessary.

Leo turns his attention to Hazel, "So what's the plan now? Is he taking us all the way back to Half-Blood Hill or are we making a few pit stops along the way?"

"Well Percy and Frank are headed to Puerto Rico actually. Reyna has a family home there that she offered us to use as a home base while we're down here. It's closer and Nico's been there before, so we're hoping it might make the jump easier for him," Hazel sits on the floor in front of me and glances up at her godly brother with concerned eyes.

"Well, we should _all_ get some rest," I turn to Hazel, "You rest first. I'm afraid we're going to need your mist powers tomorrow to hide yourself and Nico from the island. I can protect you for now while you get some sleep."

Leo offers her an extra blanket and Hazel curls up on the bed next to Nico, but with her head on the correct end of the mattress.

I begin to sing softly as I reinforce the magical barrier already around the room. Leo sits down behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. When I finish the spell, I lean into him and easily fit into his embrace. Leo kisses my forehead and I lace our fingers together; I want to have this feeling of love and protection between us last forever, but forever is a very long time...

"We're getting out of here tomorrow."

I smile tightly as me worries begin to boil up again, "We're getting out of here tomorrow."

* * *

The next day is the longest day of my life… and I have quite a few days to compare it to.

Before I lower my barrier in the morning, I make sure that Hazel is awake and Leo is on guard to help keep track of the patrols and wayward creatures. I have to eat breakfast with 'Mother' Lamia, so I have to leave them with only my thin barrier as assistance.

The walk to the garden feels as if it takes hours, the meal itself feels like a full day's time, by the time we have taken a walk through the orchard and I have slyly pocketed a few ripe apples, I feel as if a year might have passed me by.

As I shield my eyes from the sunlight and look to the sky, I am completely dumbstruck by the position of the sun; it is not even _midday_ yet.

Before a lunch that I'm sure will pass at an agonizing snail's pace, I duct back to Leo's room and drop off the apples and check in on Nico. The son of Hades is awake and appears more alert and confident than before. My nerves calm slightly, but a worrying buzz is still present.

As the sun finally begins to dip below the horizon, I stretch out my arms and feel my muscles strain in agony. It feels as if I have aged at least three decades since the beginning of this day.

I still do not feel confident about our merry band escaping the island completely unscathed, and my stomach clinches tightly as I walk back to Leo's room before I must leave to tell my last great story to 'Mother' Lamia.

I find Hazel and Nico sitting on the bed discussing something in hushed whispers. Leo seems to have been pacing and stops when he sees me enter to room. He spares me a small smile as I encircle him with my arms and rest my head on his shoulder.

"Last one… last story and then we're gone. You got this," He sounds so confident and supportive, but there is a hint of worry under his happy voice.

"So, what's the plan after I finish with Lamia?" I turn to face our underworld friends but I keep a firm hold around Leo.

"Just do what you do every night; nothing different. You can't risk raising any kind of suspicion." Nico still looks well rested, but he had more worry marks on his forehead than I fear I might have now, "As soon as you get back to the room, we jump into the shadows and hopefully end up right in front of Reyna's old house."

"Sounds simple enough," I nod my head and try to wear a grateful grin.

* * *

Since my stories have been getting a little elaborate and extensive recently, I decide that I have to repeat the extravagance tonight as well. It would be too suspicious to cut the story short or not embellish something simple.

I began weaving a story about Sir Francis Drake stumbling onto a foreign land where a mysterious rumor of an island filled with looted treasure lures men to sea. The story took over my thoughts and allowed me to not think on what was going to happen after I walked back to Leo's room. I'm sure I had heard or read the story before, but I could not place it. And thankfully 'Mother' Lamia had not heard of the tale before. She greatly enjoyed it and thanked me several times before I was excused from the sitting room and sent to bed.

Lamia even told me to send a sentiment of 'goodnight' to Leo; which I cannot recall her doing recently.

No…

... actually, I cannot recall her sending any kind of greeting to Leo other then, 'Make sure that boy thanks you for saving his life again.'

I begin to sprint toward Leo's room.

I pass no guards, no monsters, not a single creature crosses my path as I run.

… until I get to the hallway right outside of Leo's room.

There is a pair of Erinyes standing in front of Leo's door. They are vengeful women; tall, dark features, black streaks over their bodies to match their black wings that peek out from behind their shoulders. One of them is playing with a small yellow and black snake that is coiled around her ear.

I wonder briefly if they were here to stop me from entering the room or to capture me and throw me in with the demigods to face our fate together. It doesn't matter in the slightest though; I will _not_ leave Leo or the others who came to help us to the wrath of Lamia, alone.

I clasp my hands together and hurriedly whisper a binding spell. My hands grow warm and begin to glow with golden light; I allow my anger and worry for my boyfriend and friends to feed my magic and make it stronger. I step out into view of the Erinyes right as the spell is finished and I unleash it on the two unsuspecting women, freezing them in their own bodies.

I squeeze past the temporary statues and stand in front of the door as I begin the spell again. As my hands heat, I swing the door open with my elbow and quickly release the binding spell over the entire room.

The spell won't work as well or as long as the one I performed in the hallway, but it buys me enough time to evaluate Leo's room.

Nico and Hazel are restrained, gagged and sitting frozen on the floor next to the bed. One of Lamia's prized Orthrus is frozen mid snarl in front of them. Leo is staring at me unblinking while a third frozen Erinyes holds a jet black snake to his throat. The snake is tiled up and staring up at me also; I can see the beginning of his yellow belly under his chin.

I briefly crash my lips into Leo's. I see my spell slowly fall away from his body and allow him to move around freely again. He flashes me one of his cocky side smirks and I feel the tightness in my chest loosen. I gently touch Hazel and Nico's shoulders to free them of my spell as well, and Leo and I quickly remove their restraints and we all prepare for our shadow travel.

But the binding spell that I threw into Leo's room is decaying too quickly.

The spell in the room had to cover more people and creatures than I had expected. The hold it has on the remaining frozen beings is deteriorating alarmingly fast.

"We have to go _now_ ," I insist with a harsh voice.

I glance over my shoulder as Nico secures Hazel's wrist with a rope and Leo does the same to himself and checks my knot before he grabs my hand.

"Close your eyes and hold on," Nico begins to pull us forward into the shadow beneath the bed, but he isn't quick enough.

The third Erinyes has control of the upper half of her body and she flings her little snake at Leo's back right as we are about to be engulfed by the shadows.

I step in front of Leo and hold my free hand up, expecting to swipe the little reptile away with ease.

The last thing I remember before the darkness envelops my body and my mind is the razor sharp pinch in the palm of my hand.

* * *

 _EEK! Ok so, this thing has kind of taken on a mind of it's own... Sorry! I promise next chapter will be it for this part. And I do have other one-shots in mind. But for some reason this short story grabbed hold and wouldn't let go. Let me know what you think!  
_

 _Pleas, please, PLEASE REVIEW!  
_

 _Always,_

 _Misha_

 _Ps. Check out my other stories too: ' Penelope Jackson: The Lightning Thief,' 'Thrown Back' and 'Begin Again.'_


	9. VIII

_SO... here it is... the last section of the short story in my collection of one shots. Thanks for being so patient with me.  
_

 _Huge, GIGANTIC thank yous to everyone who Followed or Favorite-ed with past week. And DOUBLE thanks to my lovely reviewers: TheSatyrKing, Koolkat0207, Shadowglow's Reign, HamishJones and MoonLightShadowNight123._

 _Sorry about the cliffy. Hope you all still like me. =)_

* * *

 **8. Leo**

Shadow travel is freaking _amazing_ …

It feels like you're on some crazy roller coaster that's built with a warp drive or something. Your whole body vibrates, your hands start to auto clench and your face feels like it's going to peel away from your skull…

I'm totally ready for round two!

It's pretty dark when we arrive in San Juan. The front yard we land in is covered in bright pink tropical flowers, which is only really noticeable because the house behind them is a solid block of white. Like the cement, trim, shutters… everything but the door is white. The door is actually this crazy blinding yellow, but that doesn't really help my description.

 _Anyway_ …

I wave at Frank and Percy, who are sitting on the steps of the porch. They wave back with huge grins. Guess they're just as excited as I am that the plan worked.

"Hey Calypso, what happened back at…"

As I turn to talk to the Titaness, she falls forward and I thankfully catch her. Actually… I'm a total klutz so I kind of more _fall_ with her, but since I'm under her I can at least cushion her landing.

"Calypso? Hey… hey Cal? … Cal... what happened?!" I'm in shock; I have no idea what to do... I can't fix _people_. She isn't responding. Her eyes are closed; her pouty lips are slightly parted, and she looks even paler than she usually is… which is saying something.

Hazel is next to us in seconds, "Oh my Gods." She runs toward the house and up the porch so fast she almost collides with Frank, "Calypso's hurt, we need to get word to the camp." Frank frowns at me and nods to Hazel as he turns and stalks back into the very white house.

Nico is on the ground next to me; he looks exhausted and confused, but there's a horrible darkness to his eyes… he knows something is _really_ wrong. "She needs a healer; she needs Will. We need to get her back to Camp Half-Blood." Nico tries to get up, but stumbles. Percy jumps in beside him and tries to steady his fellow demigod.

"No way, di Angelo. I don't think you're going anywhere else tonight," Percy helps Nico get into the house quickly and comes back out with Frank to get Calypso.

I know I'm being stupid, but I won't let go of her. I'm cradling Calypso to my chest and just jabbering to her. I'm sure I look like a mental patient or something, but I really couldn't care less.

Finally Hazel comes out and hands something off to Percy. She comes over to me and holds my hands as Frank gently picks up Calypso's small limp frame and carries her into the house.

"She's still breathing Leo. There's always a chance. We have to stay positive and hope that Will can save her," Hazel wraps her arms around me and lets me lean onto her shoulder.

I sit there kind of in a trance.

I can see the son of Poseidon in my peripheral. Percy sighs heavily and starts talking into the little black rectangle that Hazel had handed off to him. Oh… it's a cell phone. I haven't seen one of those in so long; I actually forgot about them… demigods can't use them _safely_ , so no one really carries one. I can't make out a lot of the words; but I think I hear something about 'bite,' 'poison' and 'pipes.'

I think my brain has shut off; like I'm only working with backup generators and those are being utilized just for the essential things… like _breathing_. I can't seem to process anything that I'm hearing, or even form any sort of external communication.

A gust of wind blows Hazel and my hair around, and suddenly a huge dog snout appears right in front of my face. Mrs. O'Leary gives me a huge sloppy kiss, but I still just kind of stare without moving.

Frank calls to the new arrivals from that ridiculous yellow door, and I hear a lot of voices around me exchange orders and updates on Calypso, Nico and me.

Wait, why are they talking about _me_?

I hear footsteps approach Hazel and me. Someone sits down beside us and I feel someone wrap their hands around my arm.

"Hey Leo."

I lift me eyes to the familiar voice and try to focus on the face swimming in and out of focus in front of me, "Hi Piper." She smiles at me but I can see that her eyes are glazed over and there is water rimming the edges of her eyelids. I feel Hazel let go of my shoulders and she stands up; Frank calls her to check on Nico.

"I _so_ want to be pissed at you right now, Valdez," A single tear falls down Piper's face but the smile that she's wearing is so big, it looks like it might be hurting her face.

"Why are you smiling like that then?"

"Because… even with how much I want to punch you, I'm just _so_ happy you're really alive," I think her smile actually gets bigger, if that's even possible.

I look over her shoulder at the yellow door of the very white square house, "I'm happy I'm alive too. I'd be happier if I hadn't been too stupid to notice that Calypso got hurt somehow."

"It's… it's ok, Leo. That's why I'm here. I'm here to help _you_ , and Will is here to help _her_. Will is the best healer at camp. If _he_ can't heal her… he's… he's going to heal her. I know he can," Piper's crazy color changing eyes look so hopeful, but her face seems so sad still… it's hard to decide which of these feelings are going to overtake me.

* * *

I have no idea how long we stay outside, but I did notice that it has gotten darker. The stars are out now; the moon's pretty high over the house and the sound of chirping crickets have filled the humid night air. Piper sits next to me, holding my hand; waiting patiently for my brain to start working again.

"I… can… can we go inside?" I ask, my mind finally stringing usable words together again.

Piper nods her head and helps pull me to my feet. She doesn't let go of my hand… And I realize that I don't want her to. Piper might be the only thing keeping me in one piece right now. She once called me 'the annoying little brother she never had.' Well I guess this confirms that she's the big sister that I've always wanted. She offers me a small smile and squeezes my hand tight as we walk through that horrible yellow door.

There's a lot of quiet mumbling coming from what looks like the living room. Frank, Hazel and Percy are standing around the couch where Nico lays.

Every single one of them goes silent as soon as they notice Piper and I are in the room…

…that's always a good sign…

Will steps out of a door to the left of everyone; I guess it's a small bedroom where Calypso is, but I can't see anything or anyone in the room. Will gives me a confident looking smile and I can feel my lungs suddenly fill with fresh air.

 _When was I holding my breath?_

"She's still not stable, but I'm hopeful that we can heal her up with time." Will walks over to the couch and Nico pulls his legs up to allow the blonde to sit down next to him. Will moves Nico's legs over his lap. I guess they must be together; they look so casual and comfortable, it's nice to see. Nico always looked so dark and twisty on the Argo, I'm glad that he might have found someone.

Will closes his eyes for a second before he continues, "I used some of my Apollo magic to redirect the poison and try to draw it out of her body. It actually worked, but the poison did some damage before I got here."

"Have you given her any Ambrosia or Nectar?" Piper's voice sounds a little scratchy as she speaks.

"I was afraid to at first. Percy told me that she was immortal on her island; but we have no idea if she still is, now that she escaped." Will covers his eyes briefly and rubs his forehead anxiously, "She actually woke up for a minute or two and was able to tell me that Nectar should be ok in small doses, but even she's not sure if her formal godly status is holding anymore."

"So the Nectar is working?" Nico asks gently; he sits up and takes one of Will's hands.

"Looks like it. I'm terrified of giving her more than just a few sips every hour though. And she doesn't seem to be conscious enough to take more than that anyway," Will looks around the room, and finally sets his eyes on me. "I'm so sorry that I can't do _more_ right now, Leo."

I smile as best I can, "You're doing everything you can. Thank you."

* * *

The group scrounges around the kitchen for some snacks as Nico helps Will come up with a schedule for Calypso. It sounds like someone has to sit with her at all times and make sure that she drinks a few sips of Nectar every hour until she's fully awake again. Then, Will hopes that she will be able to figure out about her godly status and heal her up completely when he knows everything.

Nico and I aren't on the schedule. Neither is Piper; she's supposed to babysit me.

I _hate_ that.

I tell them all I want to help… _need_ to help. But they tell me that I have to rest.

"I'll sneak you and Piper in when it's my turn to watch her," Hazel winks at me as she hands me some bread with chunky peanut butter.

"Wow, I guess Reyna stocked the house since the last time she was here," Nico marvels at the sleeping bags, pillows and blankets that Frank and Hazel found upstairs.

"Yea, she told us that her sister, Hylla, had a bunch of stuff put into this place so that it could be used as a safe house. And, I mean, she is the queen of the Amazons and has access to almost anything you could think of." Hazel chuckles a little as she sets up a sleeping bag for everyone and makes sure that there are enough pillows, "There are also a ton of cloaking spells over this place, so we should be really safe here."

* * *

I can't sleep.

I watch the minutes tick by. I watch each of my friends take shifts doctoring Calypso. And then I watch them collapse onto their makeshift beds and drift off to sleep.

I'm just lying here... watching it all.

I'm on the floor next to a deeply breathing Piper when Hazel sneaks up and gently shakes my arm, "It's my shift. Do you still want to come with me?"

Hazel's eyes go wide with shock as I almost spring to my feet. Piper must have felt my instant reaction, because she starts to stir under her blanket, "Go on, I'll be there in a minute."

When we quietly enter the room, Frank is there. He holds out the bottle of Nectar to Hazel and kisses her on the forehead. "I'm going to pretend I didn't see you, Valdez."

I smile my thanks and look around the big Praetor to see a small twin sized bed.

Calypso is unconscious, but she at least looks peaceful. There's some color back in her cheeks and when I take her hand, it isn't frozen.

Hazel smiles as I sigh with relief.

"I don't think I've ever seen you so serious, Leo," Hazel chuckles lightly and moves to the other side of the bed.

We talk quietly to pass the time. I explain how I used the Physicians Cure and came back from the dead. Piper comes into the room half way through my explanation, and I apologize about a bazillion times for not letting them all know I was alive somehow. They ask about what happened to Calypso and I while we were on Lamia's island. They each tell me what's happened at their respective camps since I've been gone. Hazel is able to get Calypso to drink a few mouthfuls of Nectar, and I'm surprised to find that time passed very quickly.

I turn to see a little light begin to stream in from between the dark curtains of the room. I stand and walk over to the window and pull the curtain back slightly; I guess I want to see if there was still a world outside of my horrible little nightmare.

"Hey Sunshine," A small voice croaked out.

I spin around so fast; I trip over myself and land in a heap right beside the bed.

Calypso's eyes were open; she dark almond eyes were staring at me. Piper and Hazel leave the room and I can hear them telling the group that Calypso's awake; but no one comes in to check.

"What took you so long?" I take her hand and she squeezes back as tightly as I do.

Calypso adjusts herself and I stuff a pillow behind her head so she can sit up, "Oh you know; traffic was murder."

I smile at her use of my own words, "Are you going to comment about how bad I smell again?"

She shakes her head but grins wildly, "I bet _I_ smell worse this time since I'm the one who almost died."

"But you're better now?" I can feel the familiar ramming around in my chest that makes it _really_ difficult to not burst into flames.

She smiles brightly, "But I'm better now, I pro…"

I couldn't help myself.

This time _I_ was the one who stops _her_ with a kiss.

* * *

 _Woohoo! FINALLY, got that story all out. Hope you all enjoyed and I can't wait to hear what YOU all have to say about it. =)_

 _Pleas, please, PLEASE REVIEW!  
_

 _Always,_

 _Misha_

 _Ps. Check out my other stories too: ' Penelope Jackson: The Lightning Thief,' 'Thrown Back' and 'Begin Again.'_


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